Conventional book production lines successively join respectively one book block and one book case in a clocked operation. For this, the book blocks and the book cases are normally first produced in separate machines. In book production lines, for example as disclosed in German patent document DE 19729529 A1, the book block initially moves separately from the associated book case through the processing stations, such as the stations for the rounding, backing, spine glue application and head banding. The book case generally moves through a case rounding device before a marriage takes place in the downstream arranged casing-in machine, meaning before the book block and the case are joined together.
Conventional book production lines of this type are used to produce medium to large editions of books. Thus, an equal number of identical book cases are provided for a series of identical book blocks, wherein it is not necessary to observe a specific sequence because one book is composed in the same way as another book within a single edition.
When producing small editions of personalized books, for example books containing photographs, the book block and the book case are unique items. The small edition thus requires an unambiguous identification of the book case and the book block, wherein reference to this is already made in German patent document DE 102008034065 A1.
For a non-problematic processing of small editions in a conventional book production operation, for example referring to a throughput range of 3600 hardcover books per hour, either the book case or the book block must take on a control function. A section of the later book therefore predetermines for the book production line which other section of the later book must be joined to it. Swiss patent document CH 00759/10 deals with the problems of a targeted and flexible incorporation of one of the sections of a book, produced in a small edition, into a book production line and a secure allocation of these sections to be married. The aforementioned document proposes creating task stacks containing book cases of a known composition for which the case information is made available to the book production line in the form of a single marking used for the task stack.
With the known solutions disclosed in the prior art, a machine stop would always be required to supply at least one book block to a conveying section of a book production line, meaning to insert this book block between the successively moved book blocks in a main transporting direction. For that reason, such a method of supplying book blocks has not been used so far.
When operating conventional book production lines of this type, it has nevertheless turned out that it may be necessary in some circumstances to remove or supply individual book cases and/or book blocks. Those circumstance exist, for example, if the book cases and the book blocks must travel different distances along the book production line, for example if 12 book blocks are positioned in the processing stations of the book production line while only 3 book cases are positioned thereon. It is possible that the book blocks which are assigned to the book cases in the book production line are not yet available. Further irregularities are also conceivable, for example that a book block is damaged during previous operating steps or that other types of quality problems are detected. In those cases it may be useful to remove such a book block prior to its marriage with an associated book case. If a single book block is missing from the conveying section, an empty cycle is assigned to this missing book block and the associated book case is transferred out at the appropriate location.